SYNOPSIS: It begins Halloween night when Mark pours the remaining candy bars from his bowl into that last trick-or-treaters bag. A strange yet strangely familiar voice says: ”Thanks. Here’s a treat for your trouble mister.” And he leaves a pen inscribed Shrugg Inn with a crumpled piece of paper in Mark’s bowl. “His glowing wide-brimmed hat cast a shadow rendering him faceless. ‘Headless horseman’ skittered across the back of Mark's mind.” Later that night, one at a time, numerous identical faceless creatures exit a silver cylinder before Marks eyes and walk away into the night. Though unharmed, Mark experiences a depth of fear he never expected to feel in his lifetime. The next weekend Mark and his girlfriend, Beth, "throw a dart at the map and head out" to get away for a day. The pen left by Mark's assailant subtly influences their route. Their car stalls beside the highway, where a sign beside a driveway into the forest reads: "Shrugg, 1 Mile." In Shrugg, Mark is befriended by Morgan Magoo, his intrepid trick-or-treater, who is the top scientist of a group of aliens hiding in another dimension. Mark spends three days in Shrugg, while Beth sleeps a few hours in the car by the highway because "time goes differently in Shrugg." Things seem pleasant in Shrugg, though some of their clones aren’t happy and the council may eliminate all the Earthlings "by peaceful means". These meek aliens fled a dying planet and came to peacefully share Earth with whoever or whatever they might find, but they see Earthlings "polluting to death" their refuge. They also fear revealing their presence to such warlike barbarians. A subtle clue in the book alerts a most astute reader to what the final twist in the last chapter--"Band Aids Are Green"—will be. It’s a surprise I wouldn't divulge in the face of heinous torture (short of tickling)

P.S. It is PG-13-- not for younger children. In this story Mark and Beth are lovers in their mid twenties. While the two sex scenes have no graphic details or naughty words, they are explicitly there.